I painted a grisaille portrait of my nephew this weekend, which will be the underpainting for the finished color portrait. I plan on glazing the colors for this one and the one of my husband Mike, in the coming weeks.
Author: Nicole Smeltzer
The eldest.
The Texture Alphabet
I have been making a texture alphabet! I finished it up yesterday. Here are all the letters, done in watercolor:
This project was inspired by my daughter’s love of big, fancy words.
Grisaille of Mike
I’ve been slowly working on an oil portrait of my husband, Mike. Here’s the grisaille underpainting. When this is dry, I’ll start apply color, using the Zorn limited palette (ivory black, titanium white, yellow ochre, and cadmium red light).
Recent collages
That “Just finished a great book and now I’m expected to return to the real world??” feeling
And a summer cold (somehow ten times worse than a winter cold)
The purple dog
I saw a greyhound taking a walk, and he inspired these three doodles all with water-soluble pencils on various papers:
More watercolors
Here are a few recent watercolor sketches…
These two are the result of one of my painted garbage experiments. Here, I primed some paperboard from food packaging with white latex gesso, then painted with watercolor once it had dried:
I like the effect. I love watercolors when they are loose and hard to control. It’s similar to (but not exactly like) painting on yupo paper. No or very little color glazing, and it doesn’t absorb into the paper at all. The colors remain very bright.
This is a sketch of my sister’s cat Bazinga in ink and watercolor. Bazinga is an inside kitty, presently caterwauling because she wants to be an outdoor kitty. This is how I imagine she’d behave once she actually went outdoors:
And this one is my submission for June’s Scbwi Draw This contest. The prompt word is “splash.” It’s watercolor on yupo paper with charcoal pencil. My love affair with yupo paper continues! It’s the only paper I’ve found that can achieve the same color intensity and luminosity as dried paint on a watercolor palette. And I am obsessed with my watercolor palette(s).
I’m back from vacation, so I should be painting more often now! And I’ve finally recovered from a months-long illness that hindered my creative ability, so I’m looking forward to working on more detailed and focused projects in the near future!
Watercolor sketches
Some quick watercolor sketches done on scraps of previously painted paper, done between 4 and 5 am this week. I like them!
Oil Portraiture, Part 2
Time to paint up from the grisaille! (see Oil Portraiture, Part 1). Thin layers of oil mixed with medium (I used Galkyd to speed up drying) were glazed on, color by color. If you were following along on my instagram or twitter, you know this part was agony for me. I’m really glad I didn’t give in to my urges to scrape the whole project and paint as I usually do (thickly with visible, moving brushstrokes) because I am so pleased with the luminosity this old master approach achieved! Hey, those guys knew what they were doing. And it’s supposed to get better with age.
Here’s how it looked as I completed each glaze, day by day. I was only able to work on it for 20 minutes or less a day because of my busy schedule these past two weeks. I’m calling it finished now or else I’d spend ages fidgeting with it, and I want to move on to my next experiment– painting a portrait with Zorn’s palette!
Oil Portraiture, Part 1
I learned to paint from impressionists, alla prima style (wet on wet), but I have always longed to capture the luminous look of classical portraits you see in the art museum. I started researching that older style of painting, working up slowly with glazes, and I started my first attempt last week.
This grisaille oil painting of my daughter is the underpainting.
Here’s the first pencil sketch, a study to work out the values. Then slowly building up the grisaille.
Once the grisaille underpainting is completely dry, I’ll begin Part 2, glazing color.
More from the sketchbook
Weeklies
Not very many this time… I’ve been sick with the flu. Here’s what I managed:
Weekly Waterdoodles
2 Yetis and other waterdoodles
Boston terrier, hedgehogs, and a dragon
Watercolor sketches
Little Things
Watercolor sketches of little things
More waterdoodles
I generally have 10-20 minutes to spare in the mornings before I dash off to work, and lately I’ve been spending those minutes doing sketches in watercolor to make my daughter laugh. Here are a few!
Mudpuddle
My friend’s son, the moment before he splashes mud everywhere.
Waterdoodles
Two quickly painted watercolors where I allowed myself minimal drying time and painted with one oversized brush to get a very loose, painterly feel. The top one is a doodle of my daughter and her puppy-love, and the bottom one is a doodle of the raccoon who begged to be let onto my screened patio last night during the storm. (I said no, but it was hard. He was incredibly cute.)
Crow sketch
A quick morning sketch of a crow in watercolor. Every morning when I walk my daughter to school, I see a whole murder of crows playing. They look like they have so much fun. It’s my dear ambition to befriend one.
Anatomy of the Human Heart
Recent science illustrations
Some cropped images of science illustrations in watercolor I have been doing for my scientist friends.
Narwhals
My daughter and I are really into narwhals right now. We read about them, we sculpted them, we painted them. Here’s my latest little watercolor sketch of baby narwhals:
Did you know that female narwhals don’t have the horn? That is so unfair.
Class Pet Portraits
Gifts for my daughter’s teacher, illustrated portraits of the class pets, Izzy the hedgehog and Brutus the bearded dragon:
Dinosaur Feathers
Breaking News: We draw dinosaurs like this now!
Starfish Leaf
I love these little waving starfish leaves all over my driveway. Painted this morning:
The Universe sketch 12/1
Don’t even try to understand the ways of The Universe.
Catalogue for Paper Dolls, the Superhero Outfits
Here are some superhero outfits re-imagined as pantsuits
The Crimson Avenger, Jill Caryle
The Invisible Woman, Sue Storm
She-Ra, Princess of Power
Wonder Woman, Diana Prince
Supergirl, Kara Zor-El
Rogue
Misty Knight
Catalogue for Paper Dolls, Item 53
Merricat’s outfit at the end of Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle.” A tablecloth Constance cut a hole in for her head, tied with the gold cord from the draperies, her mother’s old, brown shoes. We are so happy.
Last Week of Inktober
Those ducks are my favorite thing.
